“A philosophical vogue is as irresistible as a gastronomic one: an idea is no better refuted than a sauce.” —E. M. Cioran

“You were born an original. Don't die a copy.” —John Mason

“One today is worth two tomorrows.” —Benjamin Franklin

“Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.” —John W. Gardner

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” —Maria Robinson

“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” —Mark Twain

“The rich would have to eat money if the poor did not provide food.” —Russian Proverb

“Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.” —Napoleon Bonaparte

“Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth because they don't want their illusions destroyed.” —Friedrich Nietzsche

“Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth, for being correct, for being you. Never apologize for being correct, or for being years ahead of your time. If you’re right and you know it, speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.” —Gandhi

“Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil.” —Plato

“Democracy is the dictatorship of the ignorant masses.” —Plato

“The wise speak because they have something to say, fools because they have to say something.” —Plato

“A liberal is someone who only wants to be free from the consequences of freedom.” —Mike Adams

“Those who are unaware they are walking in darkness will never seek the light.” —Bruce Lee

“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.” —Bruce Lee

“Simplicity is the key to brilliance.” —Bruce Lee

“To err is human; to forgive, divine.” —Alexander Pope

“How long is love blind? Love has eyes and sees. And if love can see, and seeing, you love anyway, that's love.” —Gertrude Berg (The Goldbergs, s1e10, 1955)

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” —Charles Caleb Colton

“The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.” —Nelson Henderson

“Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” —G.K. Chesterton

“Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed.” —William Blake

“Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man's growth without destroying his roots.” —Frank A. Clark

“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.” —K'ung Fu-Tzu (Confucius)

“If names are not correct, language will not be in accordance with the truth of things.” —K'ung Fu-Tzu (Confucius)

“They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom.” —K'ung Fu-Tzu (Confucius)

“And she [Athens] has brought it about that the name "Hellenes" suggests no longer a race but an intelligence, and that the title "Hellenes" is applied rather to those who share our culture then to those who share a common blood.” —Isocrates

“I teach them all the good I can, and recommend them to others from whom I think they will get some moral benefit. And the treasures that the wise men of old have left us in their writings I open and explore with my friends. If we come on any good thing, we extract it, and we set much store on being useful to one another.” —Socrates

“What a lot of things there are a man can do without.” —Socrates

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” —Aristotle

“We walk by the light we are given.” —Frank Shaeffer

“Compared to what we ought to be, we are half awake.” —William James

“It is a profitable thing, if one is wise, to seem foolish.” —Aeschylus

“It is strictly and philosophically true in nature and reason that there is no such thing as chance or accident; it being evident that these words do not signify anything really existing, anything that is truly an agent or the cause of any event; but they signify merely men's ignorance of the real and immediate cause.” —Samuel Clark

“While the admission of a design for the universe ultimately raises the question of a Designer (a subject outside of science), the scientific method does not allow us to exclude data which lead to the conclusion that the universe, life and man are based on design. To be forced to believe only one conclusion--that everything in the universe happened by chance would violate the very objectivity of science itself.”—Werner Von Braun, Ph.D., the father of the NASA space Program

“Relativity applies to physics, not ethics.” —Albert Einstein

“When people stop believing in God, they don’t believe in nothing—they believe in anything.” —G.K. Chesterton

“If everyone has his own truth, then where is falsehood?” —Archbishop Stephan (Kalaidjishvili)

“He is "the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Orthodox Christians are committed to the truth claim of the Christian Faith not as ideology but as an expression of holiness.” —Rev. Dr. George C. Papademetriou

“He who learns must suffer
And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget
Falls drop by drop upon the heart,
And in our own despite, against our will,
Comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.” —Aeschylus

“Monarchy can easily be debunked, but watch the faces, mark well the debunkers. These are the men whose taproot in Eden has been cut: whom no rumour of the polyphony, the dance, can reach - men to whom pebbles laid in a row are more beautiful than an arch. ... Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes or film stars instead: ... For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.” —C. S. Lewis

“Sometimes a man's happiness is so deep inside him that he may forget it's there and start looking elsewhere hunting a fantasy, an illusion.” —Mr. Roarke (Fantasy Island, s2e14)

“God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself because it is not there. There is no such thing.” —C.S. Lewis

“If you die before you die, than when you die, you will not die.” —written on a monastic cell wall on Mt. Athos

“War in the name of religion is war against religion.” —His all Holyness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

“Believe me, if God revealed to us the disasters to which we were exposed and from which He protected us, our whole lives would not suffice to offer Him thanks.” —H.H. Pope Shenouda

“In heaven, God will not ask us why we have sinned; He will ask us why we did not repent.” —H.H. Pope Shenouda III

“Years are not needed for true repentance, and not days, but only an instant.” —St. Ambrose of Optina

“And so it is incumbent upon us to strive, rather, to correct our faults and to improve our behavior.” —St. John Cassian

“Let us strive to purify ourselves through repentance and humility, and to unite all our senses as one to the God who is good, and transcends the good. Then, truly, everything which I have not quite been able to say or to demonstrate with my many words, you will be taught in an instant, all at once. You will hear with your sight, and see with your hearing. You will be taught while seeing and, again, hear what is unveiled.” —St. Symeon the New Theologian

“If we have obtained the grace of God, none shall prevail against us, but we shall be stronger than all who oppose us.” —St. John Chrysostom

“In imitation of the method of the bee, I shall make my composition from those things which are conformable with the truth and from our enemies themselves gather the fruit of salvation. But I shall reject all that is worthless and falsely labeled as knowledge.” —St. John the Damascene

“But our opinion is in accordance with the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn establishes our opinion.” —St. Irenaeus

“Don't be anxious about what you have, but about what you are.” —St. Gregory the Great

“The man who cries out against evil men, but does not pray for them will never know the grace of God.” —St. Silouan the Athonite

“Indeed, man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible.” —St. Augustine

“The confession of evil works is the first beginning of good works.” —St. Augustine

“The one who has not yet obtained divine knowledge activated by love makes a lot of the religious works he performs. But the one who has been deemed worthy to obtain this says with conviction the words which the patriarch Abraham spoke when he was graced with the divine appearance, ‘I am but earth and ashes.’” —St. Maximus the Confessor

“Just as a pauper, seeing the royal treasures, all the more acknowledges his own poverty; so also the spirit, reading the accounts of the great deeds of the Holy Fathers, involuntarily is all the more humbled in its way of thought.” —St. John Climacus

“Some suffer much from poverty and sickness, but are not humbled, and so they suffer without profit. But one who is humbled will be happy in all circumstances, because the Lord is his riches and joy, and all people will wonder at the beauty of his soul.” —St. Silouan the Athonite

“Shun the praise of men and love the one who, in the fear of the Lord, reprimands you.” —St. Pachomius

“When people begin to praise us, let us hurry to remember the multitude of ours transgressions, and we will see that we are truly unworthy of that which they say and do in our honor.” —St. John Climacus

“..Don't be frightened at your burden; our Lord will help you to carry it.” —St. John Vianney

“Every tribulation reveals the state of our will.” —St. Mark the Ascetic

“The devil presents minor sins as insignificant in our eyes, because otherwise he would not be able lead us into major ones.” —St. Mark the Ascetic

“Do not leave unobliterated any fault, however small, for it may lead you on to greater sins.” —St. Mark the Ascetic

“He who honours the Lord does what the Lord bids. When he sins or is disobedient, he patiently accepts what comes as something he deserves.” —St. Mark the Ascetic

“It is a great error to think that you must undertake important and great labors, whether for heaven, or, as the 'progressives' think, in order to make one's contribution to humanity. That is not necessary at all. It is necessary only to do everything in accordance with the Lord's commandments.” —St. Theophan the Recluse

“I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, "What can get through from such snares?" Then I heard a voice saying to me, "Humility."” ―St. Anthony the Great

“Those who, because of the rigor of their own ascetic practice, despise the less zealous, think that they are made righteous by physical works. But we are even more foolish if we rely on theoretical knowledge and disparage the ignorant.” —St. Mark the Ascetic

“Guard your speech from boasting and your thoughts from presumption; otherwise you may be abandoned by God and fall into sin. For man cannot do anything good without the help of God, who sees everything.” —St. Mark the Ascetic

“Guarding the mouth wakes up the conscience to God, if it is with knowledge that a man keeps silence.” —St. Isaac the Syrian

“Never give your opinion if you are not asked for it, even if you think that your view is the best.” ―St. Josemaria Escriva

“Humility consists, not in condemning our conscience, but in recognizing God's grace and compassion.” —St. Mark the Ascetic

“Those who suffer for the sake of true devotion receive help. This must be learnt through obeying God's law and our own conscience.” —St. Mark the Ascetic

“When you are wronged and your heart and feelings are hardened, do not be distressed, for this has happened providentially; but be glad and reject the thoughts that arise within you, knowing that if they are destroyed at the stage when they are only provocations, their evil consequences will be cut off, whereas if the thoughts persist the evil may be expected to develop.” —St. Mark the Ascetic

“Struggle to become immortal from now, by dying here on the earth to your bad self. In this way, you won't be sad, but you'll be very glad, living together with Christ.” —Elder Porphyrios

“I saw that there was no tragedy in God. Tragedy is to be found solely in the fortunes of the man whose gaze has not gone beyond the confines of this earth.” —Archimandrite Sophrony

“Humility and suffering free a man from all sin; for the first cuts out spiritual passions, and the latter bodily.” -St. Maximus the Confessor

“Man’s will, out of cowardice, tends away from suffering, and man, against his own will, remains utterly dominated by the fear of death, and, in his desire to live, clings to his slavery to pleasure.” —St. Maximus the Confessor

“He who believes, fears; he who fears is humble; he who is humble becomes gentle.” —St. Maximus the Confessor

“You wish to be great, begin from the least. You are thinking to construct some mighty fabric in height; first think of the foundation of humility. And how great soever a mass of building one may wish and design to place above it, the greater the building is to be, the deeper does he dig his foundation.” —St. Augustine

“A servant of the Lord is he who in body stands before men, but in mind knocks at Heaven with prayer.” —St. John Climacus

“In whatever state a person is, he sometimes finds himself making pure and intense prayers. For even from that first and lowest sort, which has to do with recalling the future judgment, the one who is still subject to the punishment of terror and the fear of judgment is occasionally so struck with compunction that he is filled with no less joy of spirit from the richness of his supplication than the one who, examining the kindnesses of God and going over them in the purity of his heart, dissolves into unspeakable gladness and delight. For, according to the words of the Lord, the one who realizes that more has been forgiven him begins to love more.” —St. John Cassian

“The sun shines on all alike, and vainglory beams on all activities. For instance, I am vainglorious when I fast; and when I relax the fast in order to be unnoticed, I am again vainglorious over my prudence. When well-dressed I am quite overcome by vainglory, and when I put on poor clothes I am vainglorious again. When I talk I am defeated, and when I am silent I am again defeated by it. However I throw this prickly-pear, a spike stands upright.” —St. John Climacus

“Fire and water do not mix, neither can you mix judgment of others with the desire to repent. If a man commits a sin before you at the very moment of his death, pass no judgment, because the judgment of God is hidden from men. It has happened that men have sinned greatly in the open but have done greater deeds in secret, so that those who would disparage them have been fooled, with smoke instead of sunlight in their eyes.” —St. John Climacus

“Do not be surprised that you fall every day; do not give up, but stand your ground courageously. And assuredly, the angel who guards you will honor your patience.” —St. John Climacus

“...a fall is often an occasion of humility for those who are willing to use it to their advantage.” —St. John Climacus

“Humility is the only thing that no devil can imitate.” —St. John Climacus

“Run from pride, for it is a passion more treacherous than any other.” —St. John Chrysostom

“Fasting is for the purification of the soul and body.” —St. John Chrysostom

“Fasting is wonderful, because it tramples our sins like a dirty weed, while it cultivates and raises truth like a flower.” —St. Basil the Great

“Fasting is the mother of health; the friend of chastity; the partner of humility.” —St. Symeon the New theologian

“As salt is needed for all kinds of food, so humility is needed for all kinds of virtues.” —St. Isaac the Syrian

“Let it be known to you that if in your life you have mastered every virtue and every good deed such as mercy, prayer, fast, and other virtues but have no humility in you, your toil will be in vain. For humility in all these virtues is the solid foundation. Without it, we cannot master any of the virtues and all these virtues will become impure, filthy, and discarded before God because they were not sown with humility and love.” —St. John Chrysostom

“Fasting is the mother of health; the friend of chastity; the partner of humility.” —St. Symeon the New theologian

“What can sin do where there is penitence? And of what use is love where there is pride?” —Abba Elias

“Pride is poverty of the soul, which imagines itself to be rich, and being in darkness, thinks it has light.” —St. John Climacus

“No one in creation is rich but he that fears God; no one is truly poor but he that lacks the truth.” —St. Ephrem the Syrian

“In all your undertakings and in every way of life, whether you are living in obedience, or are not submitting your work to anyone, whether in outward or in spiritual matters, let it be your rule and practice to ask yourself: Am I really doing this in accordance with God’s will?” —St. John Climacus

“Those who submit to the Lord with simple heart will run the good race. If they keep their minds on a leash, they will not draw the wickedness of the demons onto themselves.” —St. John Climacus

“I prefer a man who sins and repents to one who does not sin and does not repent. The first has good thoughts, for he admits that he is sinful. But the second has false, soul-destroying thoughts, for he imagines himself to be righteous.” —Abba Poemen the Great

“At meals don't speak about food: that's vulgar and unworthy of you. Speak about something noble -- of the soul or of the mind -- and you will have dignified this duty.” ―St. Josemaria Escriva

“The man who is deemed worthy to see himself is greater than he who is deemed worthy to see angels.” —St. Isaac the Syrian

“The truly blessed are not the ones who can work miracles or see angels; the truly blessed are the ones who can see their own sins.” ―St. Anthony the Great

“The way to perfection is through the realization that we are blind, naked and poor.” —St. Theophan the Recluse

“Everyday I lay a foundation for building my repentance, and again with my own hands I demolish it.” —St. Ephrem the Syrian

“As I became more wretched you drew nearer to me.” —St. Augustine

“Sin is the fruit of free will. There was a time when sin did not exist, and there will be a time when it will not exist.” —St. Isaac the Syrian

“Without love, deeds, even the most brilliant, count as nothing.” —St. Thérèse de Lisieux

“How long shall we continue in this manner, our intellect reduced to futility, failing to make the spirit of the Gospel our own, not knowing what it means to live according to our conscience, making no serious effort to keep it pure?” —St. Mark the Ascetic

“Do not leave unobliterated any fault, however small, for it may lead you on to greater sins.” —St. Mark the Ascetic

“So in every test, let us say: "Thank you, my God, because this was needed for my salvation."” —Elder Paisios of Mount Athos

“Make sure that you do not limit your prayer merely to a particular part of the day. Turn to prayer at anytime.” —St John Chrysostom

“The Lord knows that I love you all, but I cannot speak with God and people at the same time.” —St. Arsanius the Great

“A Christian...is not his own master; he puts his time at God's disposal.” —St. Ignatius

“Do not seek the perfection of the Law in human virtues ... Its perfection is hidden in the Cross of Christ.” —St. Mark the Ascetic

“The knowledge of the Cross is concealed in the sufferings of the Cross.” —St. Isaac the Syrian

“Man is, by nature, afraid of both death and the dissolution of the body; but there is this most startling fact: that he who has put on the faith of the Cross despises even what is naturally fearful, and for Christ's sake is not afraid even of death.” —St. Athanasius the Great

“When you meet with suffering, contempt, the Cross, your thought should be: what is this compared with what I deserve?” ―St. Josemaria Escriva

“He made Him who was righteous to be a sinner, that He might make sinners righteous.” —St. John Chrysostom

“Our life and our death is with our neighbor.

If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but if we scandalize our brother, we have sinned against Christ.

This is the great work of a man: always to take the blame for his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath.” —St. Anthony the Great

“We shall not care what people think of us, or how they treat us. We shall cease to be afraid of falling out of favour. We shall love our fellow men without thought of whether they love us. Christ gave us the commandment to love others but did not make it a condition of salvation that they should love us. Indeed, we may positively be disliked for independence of spirit. It is essential in these days to be able to protect ourselves from the influence of those with whom we come in contact. Otherwise we risk losing both faith and prayer. Let the whole world dismiss us as unworthy of attention, trust or respect – it will not matter provided that the Lord accept us. And vice versa: it will profit us nothing if the whole world thinks well of us and sings our praises, if the Lord declines to abide with us. This is only a fragment of the freedom Christ meant when He said, ‘Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ (John 8.32). Our sole care will be to continue in the word of Christ, to become His disciples and cease to be servants of sin.” —His Life is Mine, Archimandrite Sophrony

“Love alone harmoniously joins all created things with God and with each other.” —St. Thalassios the Libyan

“The man who loves his neighbor as himself possesses no more than his neighbor…thus, as much as your wealth increases, so much does your love decrease.” —St. Basil the Great

“Do not consider your riches as belonging to yourselves alone; open wide your hand to those who are in need.” —St. Cyril of Alexandria

“All the things of this world are no more than earth. Place them in a heap under your feet and you will be so much nearer to heaven.” ―St. Josemaria Escriva

“O God, grant us a deeper sense of fellowship with all living things, our little brothers and sisters to whom in common with us you have given this earth as home. We recall with regret that in the past we have acted high-handedly and cruelly in exercising our domain over them. Thus, the voice of the earth which should have risen to you in song has turned into a groan of travail. May we realize that all these creatures also live for themselves and for you - not for us alone. They too love the goodness of life, as we do, and serve you better in their way than we do in ours. Amen.” —St. Basil the Great

“Look at the world around you. It supplies all your bodily needs. It feasts your eyes with its beauty. And its glory reflects the glory of God, so it feasts your soul also. Look at the plants and the trees. Can you count all the different species? Can you describe all the different shapes of the leaves, the color and fragrances of the flowers? Look, too, at the animals and the insects. Are you not enthralled by their different sizes and shapes, by the different colors and textures of their skin and fur, by the different ways in which they move about and gather food? And the wonder why God has created all this. Has he created the marvelous universe just to supply our needs and to feast our eyes and souls? or is there some other purpose in it all? The answer is that he has created all things--for their own sake. Each creature has its own purpose and destiny, which God in his infinite wisdom and love has planned. Do not try to understand God’s plans; the human mind is hardly better than that of an ant in discerning the ways of God. Simply accept all his plans and rejoice in them.” — St. John Chrysostom

“Some people see the houses in which they live as their kingdom; and although in their minds they know that death will one day force them to leave, in their hearts they feel they will stay forever. They take pride in the size of their houses and the fine material with which they are built. They take pleasure in decorating their houses with bright colors, and in obtaining the best and most solid furniture to fill the rooms. They imagine that they can find peace and security by owning a house whose walls and roof will last for many generations. We, by contrast, know that we are only temporary guests on earth. We recognize that the houses in which we live serve only as hostels on the road to eternal life. We do not seek peace or security from the material walls around us or the roof above our heads. Rather we want to surround ourselves with a wall of divine grace; and we look upward to heaven as our roof. And the furniture of our lives should be good works, performed in a spirit of love.” —St. John Chrysostom

“A man who has dedicated himself once and for all to God goes through life with a restful mind.” —St. Isaac the Syrian

“Do you seek any further reward beyond that of having pleased God? In truth, you know not how great a good it is to please Him.” —St. John Chrysostom

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” —St. Augustine

“Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before a fall.” —Proverbs 16:18

“If a wise man has an argument with a fool, the fool only rages and laughs, and there is no quiet.” —Proverbs 29:9

“Childless with virtue is better than this,
For immortality is in its memory;
Because it is known both by God and by man.” —Wisdom of Solomon 4:1

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” —Matthew 5:3-10

“And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!"” —Luke 18:13

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” —Jeremiah 1:5

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” —Galatians 2:20

“The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.” —Psalm 23

“Let no one fear death; for the death of the Savior has set us free.” —St. John Chrysostom

“You freed me from slavery, gave me Your Name & marked me with Your Blood, so that I would always keep You in my heart.” —St. Augustine

“To fall in love with God is the greatest romance; to seek Him, the greatest adventure; to find Him, the greatest achievement.” —St. Augustine

“He is with me, He who left the world behind. He is present in me, He who left His nature. He dwells in me, He who denied Himself. He is wholly for me, He who lost His life for me.” —St. Ambrose of Milan

“If there is any rest for us in this world, then it consists only in purity of the conscience and patience. This is a harbor for us who sail upon the sea of life...” —St. Tikhon of Zadonsk